photo credit theculturednerd.org

In 1938, Jerry Siegel and JoeShuster, two awkward Jewish teens created the strongest superhero in the multiverse. Superman, aka Kal-El, a Hebrew name for God, emerged during a dark time in Jewish history. World War II and Hitler made Jews feel anything but powerful. So, the fantasy of a Jewish justice warrior on a mission to kick Nazi butts, captured the hearts of Jewish kids everywhere.By 1940, Superman’s fame had spread across the globe and Siegel and Shuster published a short two-page comic in Look magazine entitled, “How Superman Would End the War.” Bending Nazi cannons into pretzels, downing Luftwaffe from the sky with his bare fists, and dragging Hitler and Stalin by the neck before the League of Nations to stand trial, the one place Superman was not so revered was in the high ranks of the Nazi party.

In fact, several months after the article appeared, the official SS newspaper, Das Schwarze Korps (The Black Corps), published a full-page diatribe, ostensibly written by Joseph Goebbels himself, accusing the man of steel of being the brainchild of a Jewish conspiracy designed to poison the minds of American youth.

Fast forward to present day Hollywood. Wonder Woman Gal Godot is an Israeli megastar and uber handsome good guy, David Corenswet, will be the first Jewish actor to play Superman in a major motion picture, Superman: Legacy.

While Superman’s ideators may not be present on earth to see the first Jewish man of steel on the big screen, Joe Shuster died in 1992, and Jerry Siegel soon followed in 1996. But I think it can be argued that they’re both kicking back and enjoying a bucket of popcorn in their own Fortress of Solitude and kvelling.